A stunning piano has found a new home in Gatehouse.
The 1939 concert grand, built by the famed Steinway and Son company, had previously been in the National Trust for Scotland’s Pollok House in Glasgow.
But a need to find it a new home attracted fierce competition from across Scotland, with Gatehouse Music Society among six groups which made an application.
Initially, it looked as if Dunfermline Music Society would become the owners but, when they were unable to provide a new home, another draw took place with Gatehouse this time getting the nod.
And it is now taking pride of place in parish church.
The society’s Hilary Alcock said: “Dumfermline’s loss was very much Gatehouse’s gain; for us, it would seem that some clouds really do have a silver lining.
“We could hardly believe we had been gifted one of the greatest makes of concert grand pianos in the world. It was an extraordinary stroke of fate and one for which the Gatehouse community can feel very grateful to musician and concert organiser Daisy Henderson and to National Trust Scotland, who own Pollok House.”
The advert looking for a new home for the piano was spotted by the society’s chairwoman Maria Taylor.
Steinway Model D Grand Piano number 292377 weighs nearly half a tonne and features 88 keys and more than 12,000 individual parts.
Research by the society reveals it was made in Hamburg and shipped to Steinway’s London Hall in July, 1938 – the same year Theodore Steinway presented one of his pianos to President Theodore Roosevelt and the American nation.
In 1942 the Gatehouse Steinway was sold to the BBC, then 10 years later to the Decca Recording Company. For the past 60 years it has resided in Pollok House, being played by distinguished and internationally renowned pianists such as John Ogdon, Mitsuoka Uchida, Jorge Bole and Alfred Brendel, as well as two of Gatehouse Music Society’s recent concert performers, Steven Osborne and Martin Roscoe.
The instrument is in good order and to mark its arrival Bill Thompson gave a recital in the church just before Christmas.
An eclectic programme of Beethoven, Brahms, Mussorgsky and Gershwin showed off the magical range, dynamism and power of the beautiful piano.
The music society’s chairwoman, Maria Taylor, said: “These are the words to live by and our hope is that our grand piano 292377 continues to build upon its illustrious history and helps in the advancement and enjoyment of music for all in Gatehouse and beyond in the years to come.”
